A system that is a scam deserves to be foiled. I would not be at all surprised if some enterprising youngster would not form a pool, buy the $200 textbook, disassemble it, scan it and share it with members of the syndicate for use on their Laptop or whatever. Would this consumption and copying not be for “personal” use and not for resale for profit?
Back in the day it was not at all uncommon for us to buy one textbook and share it and copy the problems for distribution. That was a long time ago when copying was less convenient than now. Of course the group of us also had an office on campus where we based our efforts. It was a “found” space way up in an attic and furnished with stored desks and chairs. A wonderful cooperative arrangement done under the radar screen. There were six of us, we worked in the labs, and it was great to be undergraduates with the equivalent of grad student privileges. Our profs who also used the labs turned a blind eye to our activities and seemed to enjoy the whole proposition.
Textbooks have always been a profit center for academicians and academia. Doesn’t it seem a little unethical to charge usurious prices to a captive audience?
Why should common knowledge be a profit center based monopoly?
Similar things have been going on for some years. There are websites that have full free copies of texts to download. Just like the original version of Napster and many others, the publishers try to shut them down as soon as they find them.
There are also sites that will give or sell you solutions to all the problems in math and science texts for high school and college.
There are sites that will sell you a term paper and even a Masters or PhD thesis.
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant. I mean on the internet.